Popcap has found a way to make everyone's favorite mindless time-waster a …

Digital forms of Solitaire have been included with Windows since it reached version 3.0, and they may well represent the most widely played video game series this side of Angry Birds, enjoyed by bored cubicle workers and bored, procrastinating students alike. While most serious gamers probably wouldn't put these games top ten picks of all time, you'd be hard-pressed to find a single PC owner that hasn't put in at least a few hours on a machine that has nothing else available.

Plants vs. Zombies and Peggle maker Popcap is targeting this familiar genre with its latest Facebook time-waster, Solitaire Blitz, a supremely addictive and well-crafted offering that adds just the right amount of tension to the zen autonomy of mindlessly clicking cards.

Those who've played the common Pyramid solitaire variant will be familiar with the general concept in Solitaire Blitz. Instead of sorting cards into sequential piles based on suit, you stack up cards that are one rank higher or lower than the current top card on the play pile. So if you draw a 3, you could click through 2-A-K-Q-K-Q-J-10-J on the playfield, revealing new cards and gaining points and multipliers as the chain continues.

This might sound mind-numbingly simple (and it is to an extent), but Blitz spices it up in a few key ways. The first is a one-minute time limit, much like that in the ultra-popular Bejeweled Blitz. The ever-present clock, which is tied to your score bonus, has a way of focusing the mind and forcing you to make snap decisions. For instance, is there anything to put on that 7 right now? No I guess there isn't, so I'd better draw a new card quick. Wait, there was a 6 right there! How did I miss it?! Aw, crap, I'm wasting time worrying over the mistake, what can I put on this 10?

After your first few games, Solitaire Blitz slowly rolls out a second and third play pile to stack cards on, letting you sort multiple parallel chains at once, jumping back and forth as new cards are revealed. The additional options make it exponentially harder to quickly scan the playfield for the best next play, and make the time zip by that much faster. If you've ever single-handedly played three simultaneous hands of blackjack at a lonely $2 table in some Atlantic City dive bar at 3 a.m. on Christmas morning, you probably know the feeling (I'd assume, because I've never done that, no sirree).

Like Blackjack, counting cards is the key to success in Solitaire Blitz. When faced with a questionable situation—say, whether to play the 6 or the 4 on that 5 you're staring down—beginner players will just pick one at random. Novice players may look at all the face up cards and quickly calculate which play will lead to the longest streak going forward.

Expert players, however, will also think about what cards they've already seen, and calculate which card is less likely to be crucial later on in the game. They'll also be thinking about how many cards are left in each stack, along with a few options that are unique to Solitaire Blitz: whether to use that Joker wild card immediately or save it, and whether now would be the perfect time to detonate a land mine to blow up an entire row of cards.

Like any randomized card game, there's a lot of luck in getting a truly high score, but a smart and observant player can definitely turn the odds to their advantage. When the lucky opportunity for an extremely long streak does come, though, there's a certain maniacal, obsessive compulsive satisfaction in sorting all those cards into a long, unbroken chain, like a card sharp performing a perfect riffle shuffle.

Being a Facebook game, Solitaire Blitz is weighed down with a few annoying touches, such as an "energy timer" that limits how many times you can play before you have to either shell out some real money or wait ten minutes for another dose. The game is also constantly bugging you to share achievements with friends, and to send or request items from them, since providing free advertising proves your worth as a human being.

But being on Facebook also gives you an easy way to compare your top scores with those of your friends, which is a great motivator to play just one more game... two if you get a really crappy draw the first time—because come on, who wants to end on a crappy draw like that? And OK, I know I could have been faster on that second game, if I hadn't been distracted by that instant message. And now I've got a winning streak going, so it's only a matter of time until I'm on top of those leaderboards. Anyway, the kids can probably find their own way home from soccer practice, right?

Microsoft Windows Metro Popcap edition ... would destroy civilization as we know it. The Mayans were onto something. It's either that, or Greek debt. Or the Republicans. Or Iran. Or global warming. Or a giant sea lizard spawned from Fukushima.

I like the wait 10 minutes mechanic. Any Popcap veteran has a story like this:

So I'd recently bought Bejewled 3 and sat down to play it at 10 am one day, and I'm working through the Gold Rush mode or whatever where you're trying to dig down for treasures. And I'm doing pretty well after an acclimation period. I know I have to leave to go somewhere at 4:30, and I haven't eaten yet, and I wanted to get some stuff done in between. But no problem, I have plenty of time and I won't spend much time on this anyway.

THE FIRST TIME I LOOK AT THE CLOCK, it's f'ing 2 PM. I played nonstop for *four hours* and didn't even think an hour had passed.

Anything that keeps me from being late for my commitments when I'm playing a Popcap game is something I feel is a good thing, not a bad one.

I like the wait 10 minutes mechanic. Any Popcap veteran has a story like this:

So I'd recently bought Bejewled 4 and sat down to play it at 10 am one day, and I'm working through the Gold Rush mode or whatever where you're trying to dig down for treasures. And I'm doing pretty well after an acclimation period. I know I have to leave to go somewhere at 4:30, and I haven't eaten yet, and I wanted to get some stuff done in between. But no problem, I have plenty of time and I won't spend much time on this anyway.

THE FIRST TIME I LOOK AT THE CLOCK, it's f'ing 2 PM. I played nonstop for *four hours* and didn't even think an hour had passed.

Anything that keeps me from being late for my commitments when I'm playing a Popcap game is something I feel is a good thing, not a bad one.

My girlfriend and I both play bejeweled 3 on the HTPC. It's a fun little time waster, we've finished all bar 3 of the achievements (that 15 combo on the ice level is a nightmare. Plus who really wants to do 100 flushes?). Then I noticed the steam thing saying "you have played this game for 71 hours".

71 FUCKING HOURS?!? That's Civ4 kind of time. I thought about all that we could have done in 71 hours (and thought about how I could have completely cleared my desk of all work and picked up 71 hours of overtime pay), then immediately stopped thinking about that because I like my sanity.

Anyway, yeah, 10 minute thing sounds a good idea. But once this game is $5 on steam I'll probably buy it anyway and waste another good chunk of my life.

That'd be Bejeweled 3. Or have they released a new version that hasn't made it to Steam yet? (as I noticed their retail version of Bejeweled Blitz hasn't)

Bejewled Blitz was popular enough that I kind of consider it to be Bejeweled 3, which sounds odd to some people I guess but that's how I feel. I spend way too much time explaining my adjusted numbering scheme that I suppose I should just kowtow to their numbering system to save everyone the headache

I can't stand the ice level. Even in Quest Mode that level is a nightmare to deal with. I don't necessarily need the relaxing modes, but the ice mode becomes way too much to think about far too quickly for me to feel comfortable.

Typo at the end of the third from last paragraph: "sharp" should be "shark"

Quote:

...like a card sharp performing a perfect riffle shuffle.

Sound like an interesting game. I could easily see doing something else (like getting back to work) for 10 minutes, then going back to the game. But I'm guessing your energy bar doesn't fill up entirely after those ten minutes. No, I will not find out for myself! I already have too many distractions (glances at clock) Oh crap!

i dig how fB and all these apps allow me to create some justice around being paid 1/1000th of what the CEO gets paid. Productivity, my ass. Productivity apps are for suckers. Games and 'sharing' my pitiful, inane day of smoking cigarettes and repeating the latest swami speak, cat-toons, and MyTube videos - i finally can feel like i'm the guy at the top. its what they do. The only difference is their leveraged CDOs and commodities deals actually mean they don't have to show up at all for this mind-numbing shit job of mine, coding up apps to 'share and play'.

I'm thinking of writing an app to share my view of energy, telcom, healthcare, transportation, finance economics and wait, my timer just expired on solitaire I have to see if Josh beat my last round. later peeps.

Interesting coincidence: we just produced our game Solitaire Double-Deck HD only a few days ago.

Anyway, I'm a bit surprised by the negativity in this comment section. Although I admit I was a bit disheartened when I heard Popcap made a card game, I decided to play it. I have deep respect for Popcap, so I figured as a budding Game Designer I'd learn a thing or two playing this game.

In short, I'm seriously impressed. Yes, there's an energy system that really sucks, but if you manage to ignore that (not easy, I assure you), I've pretty much came to the same conclusion Kyle has here. Popcap are serious masters at fine-tuning their numbers and making players realize the optimal play. This game is no different, and in fact, their expertise shine better than any other of their products. I love the bonus the bar: it makes you realize that the best way to clear the game is to use the cards on each deck equally than biasing towards the smaller deck (although there's an immediate award for that). The clever combo system encourages a strategy on the order you play your cards, rather than clicking any at random. The game does so many things to encourage improving your skills on the game, and it's really quite an impressive display, especially when you're given a short amount of time to do so.

In summary: despite being a simple card game, it has a unique Popcap polish. They really make this game feel different, encouraging, and most importantly, fun. It's well-thought-out, and certainly a lot better than most people's expectations of Facebook Solitaire games.

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area.